German Interior Minister criticises Islam, EU’s stance on V4

On Sunday 18 March, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer criticized the EU in an interview for Die Welt am Sonntag for the way it is dealing with the Visegrad countries who reject the relocation quota mechanism, by calling such stance “patronizing” and “counterproductive”. This happened only three days after Seehofer’s interview for the daily Bild, in which he rejected that Islam belongs to Germany, a claim previously made by former President Christian Wulff and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

On Wednesday 14 March, Seehofer’s Bavarian party Christian-Social Union (CSU) officially became a part of the renewed grand coalition government led by Merkel and formed by CDU/CSU and SPD. After being sworn in, Seehofer promised to speed up deportations of unsuccessful asylum seekers and those who have committed a criminal offense or have been identified as dangerous. He also supported the continuation of border controls as long as the EU is not able to protect its external borders. With regards to those EU Member States with different views on solving the migration crisis, Seehofer mentioned a possibility to e.g. deploy more personnel at the EU external borders or contribute more for joint border patrols. Regarding Islam in Germany, Seehofer emphasized the importance of his country’s Christian roots, which can be seen as a clear signal to the ex-CSU voters who supported the far-right Alternative for Germany in last year's parliamentary elections.